Telangana erupts as activists take their own lives

The movement for a separate Telangana state, which had been lying dormant for the last five months ever since the All People's Strike was suspended abruptly in October last, has been reignited.

The reason: a spate of suicides by frustrated Telangana youth in the last few days. At least 10 youth have committed suicide in the last 10 days, most of them by self-immolation. In their dying declaration, they claimed that they were giving up their lives due to the insensitive attitude of the Congress-led UPA government in granting separate statehood for Telangana.

This began with the self-immolation of L Bhojya Naik, an MBA student, in front of his college in Warangal on March 24. He blamed it on the alleged anti-Telangana statements of some Congress and Telugu Desam Party leaders. Even as the pro-Telangana groups and political parties like Telangana Rashtra Samithi began glorifying his "martyrdom," it triggered more suicides. On Monday, three others, including S Naveen, a B Tech student in Warangal, committed suicide; while two others, T Yadagiri in Hyderabad and N Pallavi of Karimnagar, who set themselves ablaze last week, succumbed to their burns.

The suicides have come as a blessing in disguise for the TRS. Despite its victory in four seats in the recent by-elections in the Telangana region, the TRS was still tentative about its future course of action. The defeat of its candidate at the BJP's hands in Mahbubnagar assembly seat, which falls in the parliamentary constituency of TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao was a setback. It indicated that the BJP would emerge as a powerful alternative to the TRS. The TRS leadership hopes that the suicides will revive the Telangana movement.

The latest developments sent the Telangana Congress leaders into panic mode They had no alternative but to join the TRS in stalling the Lok Sabha for four consecutive days demanding an immediate solution to the Telangana tangle. The BJP, too, tried to capitalise on the frenzy when Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj highlighted the increasing number of suicides in Telangana.

The Congress is now under pressure. Though Home Minister P Chidambaram is trying to pass the buck to the political parties in the state for not spelling out their stand, AICC in-charge for Andhra affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad began the fire-fighting exercise by holding talks with the Telangana and Seemandhra leaders. And party president Sonia Gandhi reportedly asked the seniors to chalk out a formula before April 24, when Parliament reassembles for budget session.

The TDP is still in a dilemma on Telangana. Following the humiliating defeat in the recent bypolls, TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu gave hints that he might take a positive stand on the statehood demand, but is worried over the party's prospects in the forthcoming byelections to 17 seats in the Seemandhra region.

Unfortunately, no political party has made any sincere efforts to prevent the suicides, which are increasing by the day.

Reddy to head the reds now

Leadership changes in Communist parties are not an easy matter. Take for example, the CPI (M) in which general secretary Prakash Karat is not willing to step down despite the setbacks the party had received in West Bengal and Kerala last year. Leaders cling to their positions for a long time unless they voluntarily step down on health grounds or personal reasons.

It has happened in the Communist Party of India. Last week, veteran leader A B Bardhan stepped down as party's general secretary paving the way for 70-year old Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, a senior leader from the backward district of Mahbubnagar in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh.

Reddy has been chosen as the general secretary of CPI at its 22nd session held in Patna. Incidentally, he is the second leader from Andhra to head the CPI, the earlier one being the legendary Chandra Rajeshwar Rao, who held the post for 28 years.

A graduate of Osmania University and a two-time MP from Nalgonda, Reddy held the post of CPI state secretary twice in the past and has been a member of the CPI central committee for quite a long time. He was elected as deputy general secretary of the CPI in 2008. A columnist and editor of many publications, Reddy was the chairman of Visalaandhra Vignyana Samithi, a leading publishing house.

Earlier, the Congress party had three presidents from Andhra Pradesh: Bhogaraju Pattabhi Seetharamaiah, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy and P V Narasimha Rao, while the Bharatiya Janata Party had two: Bangaru Lakshman and M Venkaiah Naidu. There were rumours that CPI-M, too, would have Sitaram Yechury from Andhra Pradesh as its chief, but now it seems unlikely.

Nothing to smile about this April 1

It was a double whammy for the people of Andhra Pradesh this April 1. Even as they started feeling the pinch of two per cent increase in service tax on goods and services in the form of inflated mobile bills, internet charges and restaurant bills, the state government dealt yet another heavy blow on them in the form of an abnormal hike in power tariff, putting an additional burden of over Rs 4,440 crore on all categories of consumers. On an average, each middle class consumer would have to shell out 50 per cent more than what he is paying for the power bills now.

This is the biggest power tariff hike ever imposed on the consumers in the state. During the Chandrababu Naidu regime in 2001, there was a tariff hike imposing a burden of Rs 1500 crore and that ultimately led to the fall of his government in 2004 elections. There was no hike during Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's five and a half years in power.

And now with the Kiran Kumar Reddy government increasing the power tariff, political analysts say it would be the last nail in the Congress coffin in the state.

Bringing a bit of East Asia to the city sky

Thousands of lanterns of all hues floating up together and illuminating the night sky is an amazing sight. Hyderabadis had that wonderful experience last week in the "Hyderabad Sky Lantern Festival," the firstever in India. Hundreds of enthusiastic citizens lit the colourful hot air balloons and released them into the sky all at one time, amidst loud cheers and with powerful music in the background. The event was organised by Business Stop and Tollywood.Com at the Hitex Grounds near Madhapur.

Though the organisers aimed at releasing nearly 30,000 sky lanterns, beating the earlier world record of 10,318 released at the Indonesian Sky Lantern Festival in Jakarta on December 6, 2009, they managed around 12,000. "This, itself, is a big record. We are happy that the response was overwhelming. The proceeds of the event will be donated to voluntary organisations - Akshara Foundation and IGIVE Foundation," said Prashant Erramalli, one of the organisers.

Sky lanterns were first used during the Ching Dynasty of China for alerting villagers in the eventuality of dacoit attacks. However, the Sky Lantern Festival was celebrated to appease the rain gods for a good monsoon.